1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to metering equipment, and more particularly equipment and methods for metering consumption of utilities, such as electricity, gas and water.
2. Description of Prior Art
Strobel et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,566, discloses a metering pulse generator which is operated by the turning of a metering cam in response to the flow of water. This device produces a pulse that is transmitted to an automatic meter reading (AMR) unit of the type disclosed in Thornborough et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,209. The accumulated signals are transmitted from the AMR unit to a utility collection center via telephone lines.
In the meter reading industry, other types of pulse generators have been used to produce various types of pulses for incrementing an electromechanical register. These devices produce a sinusoidal pulse to indicate an incremental amount of consumption.
In the past, the metering pulse generator has been designed for use with other parts of the metering equipment at the customer site, such as electromechanical registers. There is currently a trend toward more extensive remote meter reading systems for serving large areas. This has resulted in a need for improved interchangeability between components of meter reading systems to allow a combination of components from different suppliers in a meter collection system for a large service area.
Currently, there are no industry-wide standards for the output of metering pulse generators. The signal output from different metering pulse generators differs in polarity, amplitude, duration, frequency, and number of cycles.